In Memoriam City of Heroes

So. Farewell then
City of Heroes
You were My First
Like the Barry White
Song
(But not my Last or Everything.
Still. One out
Of three
Isn’t bad.)

E. J. Zoso, age 17½

Terribly sad news that Paragon Studios are to close down, bringing an end to City of Heroes. As my first ever MMOG, City of Heroes will always have a place in my heart, somewhere between the pulmonary artery and left ventricle. It got me into this whole business and set a bar that even now some games limbo under rather than superjumping over, with features like flexible group sizes, sidekicking to play with friends, character customisation.

“In times of trouble, go with what you know”, as they say, and we know nothing here if not A Bit of Fry & Laurie. This genuinely heart-wrenching sketch from Series 2 seems rather apt.

“How do I like my MMOs? I like them the way Paragon Studios used to make them.”

8 thoughts on “In Memoriam City of Heroes

  1. welshtroll

    Lovely post.
    “How do I like my MMOs? I like them the way Paragon Studios used to make them.”
    That pretty much sums it up for me and much of the player base current and old.

    I was all going fine until someones forum signature was this : http://i.imgur.com/VgXCk.gif worse than a sad puppy is that one.

  2. Oghma Eh

    I jumped back in since the news. Still a great game. It’s sad that they won’t make the entire thing free (I’ve got a level 47 Mastermind) but at least I’ve got one level 50 (that I can’t play because he’s a Controller).

    So long CoH. Say hi to Earth and Beyond, and Jumpgate, in MMO Heaven.

  3. Zoso Post author

    Yeah, I got it patched up for a last look around. Didn’t get very much further than the character select screen, flipping through all those character concepts…

  4. Dr Toerag

    I changed my sig on the CoH forums to the last line of the article. It captured my feelings exactly.

  5. Moridir

    I never played CoH myself, but it’s always a sad day when another MMO bites the dust.

    By the way, what’s up with the long times between blog posts? Writer’s block, holidays, …?
    Just asking because reading Kiasa is always a nice little pause in my workday :)

  6. xbevisx

    I think COH was my first ever MMO as well. Many, many hours of fun with that beauty. Pretty solid all round I’d say.

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